Payback - The Hybrid Cut

Have always loved this movie in it;s original release....and when I learned about the controversy and saw the Straight Up cut...I was torn in a few ways....

Theatrical Cut - I loved the washed out coloring. Also, after watching the Straight Up cut, and provided the other version with it's plot and ending....I decided I preferred the sub plot with the MALE BOSS and it;s storyline and ending.

Straight Up Cut - enjoyed the extended scenes shown and hoped they could added to a fanedit of the Theatrical Cut. As for the sub plot with the FEMALE BOSS, I was not as interested , EXCEPT for the scenes before and during the SUBWAY....I think only because I wanted to see those added to the theatrical cut.

SO - for Neglify's Hybrid Cut - I was impressed this edit focused on providing the extended scenes in a matching color format. Awesome work!
As for the MALE vs FEMALE subplot and ending...I now understood how CHOOSING one or the other required certain footage adjustments. In this cut, I see the MALE BOSS version was chosen...and it utilized the subway ending INSTEAD of the HOTEL ROOM ending....so these are my observations:
Using the MALE BOSS storyline requires the son subplot and shows the ending in the HOTEL ROOM with the bomb.
Using the FEMALE BOSS storyline requires the subway sequences....
and so this is the conflict I have....
The MALE BOSS version also has the torture scenes with the hammer....and has ending with the hotel room bomb - So I think that ending should have been used...
I get it - You wanted to use the MALE BOSS and SUBWAY ending....and I believe you did a great job in combining them.
However, would have been possible to show the subway scenes and let Porter survive enough to play play out the ending with the MALE BOSS in the hotel room with the bomb?
Just curious - but OVERALL, this edit was awesome!

February 26, 2012
*This rating was given before reviews were required*

February 17, 2012

Another great edit from Neglify. All of the edits and the switching between the director’s cut and theatrical cut are seamless. No issues at all on audio or video. I’ll admit, it took me a while to get used to the black and white (mainly because I don’t watch a lot of b&w films), but after a while it just seemed like it was meant to be that way.

Score: 10 out of 10

Original review: February 11 2012

This movie just oozes cool.

From the first scene, you will forget you are watching a fanedit, and will be able to just sit back and enjoy a kick ass, perfectly edited grungy black and white Noir edition of Payback.

Neglify has edited this film with great care and skill. His cuts are invisible, with the exception of the bold color change, which adds depth to the story and sets the mood perfectly from the opening scene.

The picture quality was excellent for DVD (I watched the DL version), and the audio was nicely balanced throughout. A couple of scenes seemed very slightly out of sync, but this may have been my tv playing tricks on me.

The extras are a nice bonus (looking forward to trying the drinking game), and the menus are simple and elegant in their design and function.

Congrats Neg, you done good sir.

A thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended edit.

This edit was great fun. Neglify chose a movie that, to begin with, didn’t take itself too seriously, making the edit even more enjoyable. One of the most obvious changes is the lack of color. Given that the original version had washed-out colors, the move to grayscale didn’t subtract from the movie at all; in fact, it’s an improvement and fits the hard-boiled bill rather nicely.

The voice-over in the theatrical cut is notches better than, say, Harrison Ford’s languid narration in Blade Runner, but I agree with Neglify—it’s not necessary, and its absence in this edit is like the absence of a moustache: not a big deal and easy to get used to. Unless you’re a Lorax or something.

There were a few minor issues that really didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this hybrid cut, but I thought I’d mention them anyway. There were a few scenes in which mild audio/video dyssynchrony was noticeable. And the original red-lettered credits at the start of the movie seemed to have “bled through” the grayscale conversion and created a brownish tinge at the edges of the text.

I didn’t play the drinking game because that would drive me to shatter my manacles, rampage through the city, maybe overturn a streetcar, but I liked that it was there—obviously the work of a man who wants this fanedit to be Fun with a capital, what is it, an “F” or whatnot. For those who can manage to hold their firewater and are of legal drinking age, this movie is as good a reason as any to knock a few back.

Overall score: 9.5/10.